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Show BOO l!' UG l'l'l VE oLAV E.', l£TC. which tho question is in ::tlly respect applicable, there will be no mistake, I presume, in a~.· umin g it to be the one you had in view. The deviati on, in pulLing the qu est ion, from what would seem to be the plain and obvious cour e of directing the attclltion to the particular law nuder con. sideration, by rcl'crring to it in the very terms iu which it is exprcs ·cd or at least iu language showing its objects and limitations, I do not impute to an intention to create an erroneous im prcsRion as to the law, or to ascribe to it a. character of odiousness which it docs not deserve; yet I think that it must be conceded that your question will induce those who arc not particularly acquainted with the section of the statute to 'rvhich it refer., to believe that there is a law of thi State which allows a free importation of slaves into it, without res triction as to objeeL, and with. out limitation as to the persons who may do so, yet this is very far from being true. 'l,his law docs not permit any inhabitant of this State to bring into it any person held in slavery, under any pretense, or for any object whatsoever: nor docs it allow any person of any other State or country to do so, except such person is actually pas in O' to or from, or passing through this State. 'l'his law, in its operation and effect, only allows persons belonging to States or uations where domestic slavery exi sts, who happen to be traveling in this State, to be attended by their servants, whom they lawfully hold in slavery when at home, provided 'they do not remain within our territories longer than nine months. The difi'erence between it and the one implied by your interrogatory is so manifest, that it is perhaps fair to presume, that if those by whose appointmeut you act in this matter had uot misapprehended its character, they would not have instructed you to make it the subject of one of your questions. It is so restricted in its object, and that is so unexceptionable that it can scarcely be regarded as obnoxious to well-founded objections when vi owed in its FUGI'l1IVE SLAVES, ETC. 301 true light. Its repeal would, I apprehend, have an inj urious effect upon our intercourse with some of ibc other StaLes, and particularly upon their busin ess connection with our commercial emporium. Iu aduition to this, the repeal would have a tendency to di t urb the political harmony among the members of tile confederacy, without producing any benefi cial result to compensate for these evils. I am not therefore m. f avor o f 1" t • '' This is an explicit answer, meeting the interrogatory wi th a full negative, and implicitly rcuuking the phrase, "importation," by upposiug it would not have been used if the Utica convention had nn derslood the act. :Mr. Seward answered in the ame spiri t, and to the same efl'ect, only giving a little more amplitude to his excellent reason. Tic says : "Does not your inquiry give too broad a meaning to the section? It certainly docs not confer upon any citizen of a State, or of any other coun try, or any citizen from any other State, except the owner of sl:wes iu an other State by virtue of the laws thereof, the right to bring slaves into this State or detain them here under any circumstances as such. I under tand your inquiry, therefore, to mean, whether I am in favor of a repeal of the law which declares, in substance, that any person from the Sonlhcrn or southwestern States, who may be traveling to or from or passing through the State, may bring with him and take with him any person lawfully held by him in slavery in the State from whence he came, provided !:inch slaves do not remain here more th au nine months. T he article of the Constitution of the United States which bears upon the present que tion, declares that no person held to service or labor in one State under the la\v thereof, escaping Lo another SLate, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be di ~chargcd from such service or labo r, but such person shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service |
